JetBlue uses outside contractors to provide baggage handling, skycap, checkpoint, and wheelchair services at JFK’s Terminal Five. Jet Blur selected PrimeFlight to replace Air Serv at JFK. Air Serv had a collective bargaining agreement with the SEIU. PrimeFlight hired 362 employees, 52 percent of whom were former Air Serv workers. On May 23, SEIU demanded recognition…

The National Labor Relations Board’s General Counsel’s office said the agency’s test for deciding whether multiple short-term strikes were protected is difficult to apply. So he is asking the NLRB to “clarify and modify” the law. Along with the memo was a model brief, which regional officials were asked to include in filings with the…

Since 2011 unions have held demonstrations inside and in front of a retail store as part of a campaign to raise wages and improve working conditions of employees. Protestors would sing, chant, march, carry posters, or assemble “flash mobs.” The store filed suit in California state court accusing the unions of disruptive labor activities despite…

Retro Environmental Inc., a construction company, was a joint employer with staffing agency Green JobWorks, LLC regarding a group of full- and part-time laborers. The NLRB found that the construction company primarily controlled the day-to-day work of the temporary workers, while the temporary staffing agency handled matters such as hiring and assigning employees to job…

Most people who have familiarity with labor negotiations know that claiming an “inability to pay” (or “pleading poverty”) triggers an obligation to prove the claim by allowing the union access to financial records. The line of demarcation used to be that a claim of inability to pay requires justification while a claim of “competitive disadvantage”…

A  company had a management rights clause in its collective bargaining agreement that, among other things, gave it the right to: “adopt and enforce rules and regulations and policies and procedures.” Relying on that clause, the company unilaterally adopted new work rules and a new attendance policy. It also denied the union’s request to receive…